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DFS CLASSIC (Edgbaston, Birmingham, England, WTA Tier III)
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I attended the tournament from Monday to Sunday, watching Daniela
lose in the second round but win the doubles title. This report is a
potted summary of each of her matches, based on my own observations.
Point-by-point match-reports will appear on my website some time
after Wimbledon 2005 and before the French Open 2006, along with the
many photos I took.

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Singles: Second round (after a bye)
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- DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [7] lt. Arantxa Parra Santonja,
6-4 6-7 (3/7) 7-6 (7/5)

A really strange match, and one that Daniela didn't deserve to lose
as she looked a class or two above her Selesian opponent in talent.

Daniela started brilliantly, playing with flair and precision as she
surged to a 4-2 lead in the first set. But for some reason - whether
loss of concentration, nerves or even Daniela feeling unwell - it
all went pear-shaped after Daniela served two double faults in a row
at 4-2, and she lost four games in a row to drop the first set.

Daniela fought bravely in the second set, mixing brilliance with
elementary errors, and after she won the tiebreak to level the
match, she looked every inch the winner as she broke for 2-1 in the
third set and held for 3-1.

Parra Santonja played very well in the second and third sets, often
forcing errors from Daniela with her deep, aggressive two-handed
groundstrokes. Daniela was pegged back to 3-3, and also lost a 5/3
lead in the third-set tiebreak, finally losing the match with a
netted backhand after a nailbiting rally at 5/6.

I was quite calm throughout the match, only becoming nervous when
Daniela had to serve to stay in the match at 4-5 in the third. It
was a mouthwatering match between a nice player and a beloved one,
but I was so heartbroken for Daniela that I had tears in my eyes
when she lost.

Daniela's technical abilities are in very good nick at the moment,
and have brought her the French Open mixed doubles title and the
Birmingham doubles title. The way she's playing at the moment, she
is a joy to watch. The problem is that she just isn't a good match-
player - she needs to go away and have a long, hard think about what
she wants to happen under pressure, and what she doesn't want to
happen under pressure.

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Doubles: First round
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+ DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ/AI SUGIYAMA [2] d.
Alina Jidkova/Tatiana Perebiynis, 6-3 6-2

A fairly forgettable match with a very satisfactory result, Daniela
mixing her fierce, flairsome drives with a delectable ability to
kill the pace of fast balls with her stop-volleys.

I saw Daniela practising with Nicole Vaidišová, on the same court as
the Super Maria Sisters (Sharapova and Kirilenko). Daniela and
Nicole looked like good friends, the way they were chatting and
laughing as they walked off court.

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Doubles: Quarter-finals
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+ DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ/AI SUGIYAMA [2] d.
Jennifer Hopkins/Mashona Washington, 5-7 6-3 6-4

When I came off Centre Court after Maria Sharapova's singles quarter-
final, I found Daniela serving for the match at 5-4 in the third,
with two match-points at 40/15! Sugiyama hit a forehand first-volley
winner, and I got a very close look at Daniela as she packed up and
left Court 1.

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Doubles: Semi-final
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+ DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ/AI SUGIYAMA [2] d.
BRYANNE STEWART/SAMANTHA STOSUR [12], 6-4 3-4 retired

Daniela was a joy to watch, with her mixture of short-angled
crosscourt backhands, beautiful backhand drop-volley winners, as
well as some powerful winners to go with the touch-shots. She's such
a pure, flairsome striker of the ball, as well as a pure, gorgeous
young lady! There's something about the way her midriff wobbles when
she throws the ball up to serve.

Stosur took a medical time-out during the set-break to get her left
thigh strapped. The Australians went 4-2 up in the second with a
break of Daniela's serve, but after we broke Stosur's serve for 3-4,
the umpire announced: "Unfortunately due to injury Miss Stosur is
unable to continue - game, set and match Miss Hantuchová/Miss
Sugiyama."

I was amazed to see Daniela and her coach Nigel Sears coming into
the public car-park just as I was leaving, and I cursed myself for
putting my camera in the boot! They put Daniela's rackets into a
landrover, and Daniela was just getting into the passenger-seat as I
left the car-park.

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Doubles final
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+ DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ/AI SUGIYAMA [2] d.
Eleni Daniilidou/Jennifer Russell, 6-2 6-3

The match was played in cold, windy conditions, drizzling with rain -
we were lucky not to have a rain-delay.

Eleni Daniilidou is a masculine Philippoussis-clone with a one-
handed backhand, but Jennifer Russell is a voluptuously attractive
lady, often with a dazzling smile on her face - if only it were easy
to photograph that smile!

Daniela and Ai raced to a 4-0 lead, with Daniela serving two aces in
her first service-game, a backhand lob-winner, a trademark backhand
winner down the line. The rest of the first set went with serve,
Daniela hitting a forehand volley-winner, a forehand winner down the
line, a high backhand volley-winner, two glorious topspin forehand
lob-winners, and a backhand drive-volley winner.

Daniela really is a joy to watch at the moment, despite her recent
lack of success in singles, which is due to poor match-play rather
than the way she's hitting the ball.

We broke Russell's serve in the first game of the second set, with
two lob-winners by Daniela, who then held for 2-0 with a forehand
winner down the line and an ace down the middle. Daniela helped to
extend our lead to 3-1 with a forehand volley-winner, and held for
4-2 with a crosscourt forehand winner and an ace out wide.

There were a couple of amusing incidents: Sugiyama, running wide for
a forehand, sat on a line-judge! And Russell smacked Sugiyama's
bottom with a forehand volley.

Daniela hit a crosscourt backhand winner in breaking Daniilidou for
5-2 in the second. Sugiyama then served for the doubles title, but
was broken to love with three winners from them.

Daniela hit a forehand volley-winner on Russell's serve at 5-3, then
we hauled her back from 40/15 to 40/40 as Sugiyama drilled
Daniilidou's tummy with a forehand volley-winner! One championship-
point was all we needed as Daniela hit a backhand return-winner down
the line, and the sun came out at the moment of our triumph. :-)

After being presented with the Joan Fry doubles trophy, Daniela was
the only one of the four players to make a speech. She thanked Ai,
saying they'd had lots of fun on and off the court, and that after
so many semi-finals and finals together, it was time to get one. She
thanked her coach Nigel Sears, the staff, DFS, Sony Ericsson, and
all supporters of the doubles final. "I'm just so happy to win this
title," she said.

--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/hantu/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/danielahantuchova/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jeldani/